The Business of Conferences

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Trends_______________________________________________________

The aims of this chapter are:

1. 1   To examine the factors which drive change in the conference business.
2. 2   To consider the effects these factors may have on the development of the conference business in the future.

12.1     Introduction

The conference business has undergone, and continues to undergo, rapid change. The expansion of conferencing as an activity appears to have gone hand-in-hand with the structural changes in the UK and Irish economies, from manufacturing to service based; in consequence, the UK has one of the most well-developed conference industries in Europe and Ireland’s conference industry is developing ...